From the Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle:
Bus trip to Canada for flu shots draws 83
The bus trip culminated with a shot in the arm, but Lois Sanford of Livingston County was looking forward to the trip's other perks.

"I think this is kind of exciting. I didn't want to drive," said Sanford, one of about 83 people who took a bus to Canada for a flu shot early Friday morning. "I can sit back and watch the leaves go by."

Webster resident Charlie Bell, who helped organize the trip, invited enough people to fill the two motorcoaches going to a clinic in Niagara Falls, Canada. But he received so many calls, he'll likely organize more trips in the future.

From the Saskatoon Star Phoenix:
Flu vaccine in short supply
Public health officials will decide next week whether they have enough flu vaccine to immunize everyone in Saskatchewan who wants the shot, says the province's chief medical health officer.

Although the province has enough vaccine for all high-risk patients, the supply for private clinics has dried up, putting increased pressure on public health clinics to meet demand.

From The Globe and Mail:
Official defends sale of flu vaccine to U.S.
Canada's chief public health officer defended yesterday the right of one of the country's flu-vaccine manufacturers to sell to the United States.

David Butler-Jones said ID Biomedical met all its commitments to the Canadian market before it sought to sell its surplus south of the border. And he said that if it came to a choice between vaccinating a healthy Canadian or an ailing, elderly American, the call would be an easy one:

"A sick American versus a healthy Canadian? . . . I would give it to the American who's at high risk."

From the Port Angeles (Wash.) Penninsula Daily News:
First Peninsula bus tour to Victoria for flu shots has smooth sailing
Frail Port Angeles senior Inez Cowan was all smiles Thursday as a Fort Street pharmacy nurse injected her with Canadian-made influenza vaccine.

Cowan, 88, was one of 20 who ventured across the border to get vaccinated in Canada, part of Carlsborg-based Royal Tours' first ``Flu Shot Tour.''

``I have to have it,'' said Cowan, who wears a heart pacemaker and moves around with the aid of a walker.

The charter bus company, owned by Port Townsend businessman Kevin Harris, transported Sequim and Port Angeles residents and others from as far away as Poulsbo and Shelton to a Victoria pharmacy vaccine clinic Thursday.

From the National Post:
Ottawa urged to stop cross-border drugs
The federal government should stamp out the lucrative cross-border trade in prescription drugs, before U.S. laws change and trigger dangerous shortages and price hikes in Canada, a top economic think-tank is urging.

The fall-out for this country could be dire if John Kerry is elected president next Tuesday and implements his promise to legalize the import of medicine from Canada, suggests the C.D. Howe Institute paper released yesterday.

From the New Orleans Times Picayune:
Judge bans suburban Orleans business from selling Canadian drugs
The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy has obtained a permanent court order banning the Canadian owners of a suburban New Orleans store from selling inexpensive prescription drugs.

The board went after NorthCareDrugs.com, claiming that a store the company once operated in Kenner acted as a pharmacy without the proper state permit.

But the company said the store acted as a broker between individuals and pharmacies and was itself not a pharmacy.

From the Macon (GA) Telegraph:
Democratic governors team up in prescription drug plan
Underscoring the political overtones of his new prescription drug import plan, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Thursday that he had enlisted the participation of another state in the program - the presidential battleground of Missouri.

The announcement, which prompted criticism from Republicans, came just five days before the Nov. 2 election in which polls in Missouri show the race between Sen. John Kerry and President Bush tightening.

Early this month, Blagojevich announced that Wisconsin, another key presidential battleground state led by a Democratic governor, would also participate in the program. Democrats have sought to leverage support for Kerry from senior citizens and other consumers by highlighting the reluctance of the Bush administration to allow the importation of less expensive drugs.

From Reuters:
Canada to act if US drug demand triggers shortage
There are no signs of shortages of medicines in Canada but if U.S. reimportation triggers a run on drugs then Ottawa is prepared to act to stem the cross-border flow, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said on Thursday.

Both U.S. President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry have come out in favor of looking at the reimportation of drugs from the lower-priced Canadian market and two bills to allow this have been presented to Congress.

From Health Canada:
New Warnings about Parkinson's Drug PERMAX and Reports of Heart Valve Problems- Shire BioChem Inc.
PUBLIC ADVISORY Health Canada Endorsed Important Safety Information on PERMAX® (pergolide mesylate)

From Health Canada:
New Safety Information Regarding PERMAX and Occurrence of Cardiac Valvulopathy / Fibrosis.
Dear HealthCare Professional:

Shire BioChem Inc., following discussions with Health Canada, is alerting you to important new WARNINGS concerning the risk of cardiac valvulopathy associated with use of PERMAX (pergolide mesylate). The Product Monograph for PERMAX is being revised to reflect the following additions...

From the Canadian Press:
Internet pharmacy group seeks funding from generic drug company
A group representing Internet pharmacies has asked Canada's biggest generic drug maker, as well as others with an interest in seeing the industry thrive, for financial help.

An e-mail obtained by The Canadian Press suggests Toronto-based Apotex was committed to investing in the Canadian International Pharmacy Association. But the money would be tied to "current sales and growth of their products in our pharmacies."

From the Miami Herald:
Missouri Joins Drug-Import Program
Missouri joined Illinois and Wisconsin in a new drug-import program to make cheaper prescription drugs available from Canada and Europe despite a federal ban on the imports.

Missouri Gov. Bob Holden appeared with Gov. Rod Blagojevich at a news conference Thursday in Chicago to announce Missouri's participation in the I-SaveRx drug program. Illinois and Wisconsin launched it this month to offer savings on about 100 medications of up to 50 percent off U.S. retail prices.

From the Olympian (Wash.):
State opens Canada drug site
Washington state launched a Web site Tuesday that will help residents buy prescription drugs from approved Canadian pharmacies.

The site, www.rx.wa.gov, will help seniors and others struggling to pay for increasingly expensive drugs, Gov. Gary Locke said, acknowledging that he is defying the Bush administration's stance against importing low-cost medications.

From the Boston Globe:
Business brisk as Americans stream to Canada for flu shots
Americans are streaming into Canada -- in some cases by the boatload -- in search of flu vaccine.

With a US shortage caused by contaminated vaccine and flu season approaching, business has been brisk at Canadian clinics and doctors' offices along the border from British Columbia to as far east as New Brunswick.

A Canadian Internet pharmacy is working with a half-dozen physicians in Montreal to offer weekend flu-shot tours to New Yorkers. The price is $75 for a medical exam and inoculation. Lodging and meals, which can be arranged by a travel agency working with the pharmacy, are extra.

From theGlobe and Mail:
Discredited HRT drugs marketed in new versions
Now that the touted health benefits of hormone-replacement therapy for postmenopausal women have been largely discredited, pharmaceutical companies are promoting low-dose versions of the same drugs, according to a new study.

They are doing so despite the fact that there has been no research showing low-dose HRT is any safer, said Dr. Sumit Majumdar, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta's division of internal medicine.

From the Anchorage Daily News :
Rx Canada
When Angie Long orders her medication, it often comes from a faraway pharmacy in Canada, not from a local one in Juneau.

For the past two years, 85-year-old Long has been turning to Canada to buy five drugs she needs daily. She decided to send her prescriptions to Canada for one reason: She couldn't beat the price.

Long and her 88-year-old husband don't work anymore and depend on income from Social Security, a small retirement benefit for her husband and some savings. Buying drugs from Canada may not be for everyone, she said, but it helps cut costs when you're older and need to take multiple medications. Long needs drugs to combat high blood pressure, cholesterol and spine problems that remain after several back surgeries.

From CBC North :
Drug tracking not in cards, says Yukon minister
The Yukon's health minister says there's no plan that he's aware of to improve the tracking of prescription drugs in the territory.

Peter Jenkins says he did ask his staff to look into the issue about a year ago, but doesn't recall what came of that request.

Two weeks ago the president of the Yukon Medical Association said he'd like to see the government consider a better computer monitoring system, so pharmacists and doctors can identify people shopping around for drugs.

From the South Bend (IN) Tribune:
Pfizer exec: Canadian drug imports safe
The regulated reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada would pose no safety risk to American consumers, according to a pharmaceutical company executive who stumped here Monday for Gov. Joe Kernan.

The executive, Peter Rost, said reimportation is common and safe in Europe, where northern European countries buy cheaper prescription drugs from southern European countries. And he said concerns about counterfeit or unregulated drugs are no reason to ban reimportation, but to legalize and regulate it.

"That is exactly the reason we need regulated reimportation," said Rost, a physician and marketing executive at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The company makes Lipitor and Viagra, among other drugs.

From the Globe and Mail:
Was big pharma caught in its own web of spin?
If it weren't for a quirk of telephone etiquette, the results of an investigation into Canada's Internet pharmacy industry might have produced some straightforward headlines such as, Internet Drugstores Vulnerable To Terrorism, Study Says.

But the story got a little more complicated on Friday afternoon when the news accidentally leaked to the industry association for Internet pharmacies.

David MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, dialled into a conference call that afternoon, expecting to hear a briefing about a forum he plans to attend this week in Montreal.

From the Halifax Daily News:
Cdn doctors urged to get legal protection if giving cross-border flu shots
The organization that insures Canadian doctors is urging them to arm themselves legally if they are giving flu shots to Americans crossing the border because of vaccine shortages in the United States.

The Canadian Medical Protective Association says it has no problem with the practice, so long as doctors are getting U.S. patients to sign waivers stating that in the event they decide to take legal action, they'll do it in Canadian courts.

From Canoe.ca:
Internet pharmacy group upset at suggestion industry vulnerable to terrorists
A spokesman for the online pharmacy industry said Monday he has caught his opponents "cooking a plot" to portray the operations as vulnerable to being overtaken or hijacked by terrorists.

David MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, said a conference call last week to plan part of a cross-border policy forum in Montreal on Wednesday has led him to believe critics are using terrorism as their latest scare tactic.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The Rx chase: Cheaper drugs via the Bahamas
On an island used by bootleggers in the 1920s and speedboat-running cocaine cowboys in the 1980s, a drab warehouse now conducts a new kind of enterprise American authorities consider illegal - selling prescription drugs.

The warehouse near the Freeport airport is run by a Canadian pharmacy, CanadaRX. It buys prescription drugs from wholesalers in Europe and elsewhere. It sells them to Americans at prices 30% to 50% lower than U.S. prices.

Harvey Organ, co-owner of CanadaRX, says he was forced to set up the Freeport operation because the major American drug manufacturers, led by Pfizer, have reduced shipments to Canada to block pharmacies from selling drugs to U.S. citizens.

From the Winnipeg Sun:
Internet physician makes mouse calls
The Internet has revolutionized pharmaceutical services, dismantling borders well before countries were ready. Now a Winnipeg Internet pharmacy magnate is ready to do the same with medical diagnoses.

Daren Jorgenson has a 20-member information technology team based in India creating new health-care software. He says it will combine patient histories with medical expertise to create an online dialogue and eventually create paperless physicians' offices.

From the Portsmouth (NH) Herald:
Governor's link a Rx for disaster?
Retired pharmacist Merton Dyer wouldn’t buy his prescriptions from Canadian mail-order company K-Tel Drug.

This is in spite of the fact Dyer personally inspected K-Tel’s Manitoba operations at the request of Gov. Craig Benson before co-authoring a report endorsing K-Tel as safe for New Hampshire residents.

Still, Dyer told the Herald this past week he was "not comfortable with" several aspects of K-Tel’s pharmaceutical business - enough so to keep him from ever becoming a customer.

From the Winnipeg Sun:
'Monkey could make money'
It is the economic engine that drives Daren Jorgenson's dreams. The University of Manitoba pharmacy grad has made millions from his Winnipeg-based Canadameds.com Internet pharmacy. But to hear him tell it a simian could have done the same.

"I don't think we're these crazy, super-smart entrepreneurs. I think we got into an industry at the beginning that anybody would do well at, because the demand in the U.S. was so large and the number of people doing it here ... was so few. A monkey could make money."

From the Boston Globe:
Pharmacies in Canada zero in on US Latinos
Having built a $1 billion market in illegal, cross-border prescriptions by focusing on American seniors without drug coverage, Canadian Internet pharmacies are setting their sights on minority populations in the United States, especially Latinos, to drive a fresh wave of sales.

More pharmacies are offering Spanish-language versions of their websites. They are advertising in local ethnic newspapers and on radio. And they are looking to forge ties with local community leaders.

Frome the Washington Times:
U.S. citizens flock to Canada for flu shots
Mary Buffamonti called her doctor in Tonawanda, N.Y., this week and found out that she couldn't get a flu shot.

So she crossed the Canadian border and went to a clinic in Fort Erie, Ontario, just across the Niagara River from Buffalo, N.Y.

'That was the main thing, the shortage. I didn't know if I could get a shot or not," the 77-year-old Mrs. Buffamonti said. Americans are traveling to Canada for an injection of flu vaccine and a shot at some peace of mind.

From the Seattle Times:
Plenty of flu shots available in Canada
Several clinics in the Vancouver, B.C., area are offering flu shots to Americans, and their phones are ringing off the hooks with potential customers.

"We're definitely welcoming Americans," said Lynn Crosby, an office assistant at the International Travel Health and Vaccination Clinic in Surrey, B.C., about 10 minutes from the border. "We had someone here today from South Carolina, and a woman from New York is flying in tomorrow."

From the Toronto Star:
Online drug wars
The big, brand-name drug companies have finally thrown down the gauntlet. If Ottawa doesn't curb Internet pharmacy sales to the United States, the multinational firms won't ship enough prescription drugs into this country to serve Canadians.

"Canadian prescription drug supplies are generated to meet Canadian patient demand," Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, the trade association for brand-name firms, announced this week. "Their diversion to U.S. citizens means they are not available to Canadians.

From Bloomberg:
Canadian Drugs, Banned by FDA, Are Safe as Those Sold in U.S.
Prescription medicines from Canada, banned from the U.S., are at least as safe as those sold by American drugstores, according to a Harvard University professor, state regulators and Canadian authorities.

Inspections and anti-counterfeiting measures in Canada and other industrialized countries are just as effective as U.S. systems, said Jerry Avorn, a Harvard Medical School drug safety specialist. Carmen Catizone, president of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, a state regulators' group, rates U.S. and Canadian drugs as equally safe.

From the Vancouver Sun:
Special flu shot clinic set up in Vancouver this weekend for Americans
So many Americans are cross-border shopping for flu shots that the Vancouver health authority has set up a one-day clinic for Americans only.

Americans are flooding into clinics along the U.S.-B.C. border -- including one at the Vancouver International Airport -- looking for the shots that have become increasingly scarce in the U.S.

And while Canadian officials have repeatedly said the U.S. demand will not be allowed to impact Canadian supplies, the owner of two B.C. clinics urged Canadians -- especially those who are not considered at high risk of getting the flu -- not to delay getting their shots if they want one.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
Pharmacists sue over import of Canadian drugs
Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. is being sued by five local pharmacists who say he is breaking the law by helping city employees and residents purchase imported Canadian drugs at steep discounts.

The pharmacists are expected to appear this afternoon in Taunton Superior Court and request a judicial order that would put a freeze on the city's new prescription drug program.

Lambert's program encourages residents to buy drugs through CanaRX at discounts of as much as 50 percent. On Monday, the city also started letting municipal employees and retired employees purchase the less expensive drugs through CanaRX without paying any deductible.

From the Woonsocket (RI) Call:
Board votes against drug imports
By a unanimous voice vote, the Board of Pharmacy rejected proposed changes in regulations that would implement the new law allowing Rhode Island to license Canadian pharmacies for the reimportation of prescription drugs.

The matter now goes to the desk of Department of Health Director Patricia Nolan.

Board of Pharmacy Chairwoman Susan Delmonico rejected the notion -- put forward by Richard Bidwell of the Gray Panthers -- that the board members had a conflict of interest in voting on an issue that could restrict competition for Rhode Island pharmacies. All but two board members are appointed under rules requiring them to be pharmacists.

From the Providence (RI) Journal:
State pharmacy board rejects rules for Canadian drug imports
A law that would make Rhode Island the first state in the nation to license Canadian pharmacies hit an expected bump in the road yesterday, when a state board rejected regulations to implement it.

But the new law appears likely to roll toward its January enactment anyway, as Rhode Island continues down its unique path in coping with a nationwide dilemma.

Responding to citizens' demands for lower-cost drugs from Canada, Illinois and Wisconsin are sponsoring efforts to help residents get Canadian drugs, and municipalities around the country are obtaining Canadian drugs for their employees.

From the Orlando Sentinel:
FDA examines illicit flu shots
The head of the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that he expects his agency to learn within days how a shipment of unlicensed Canadian flu vaccines reached Central Florida.

Acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford also hinted that Canadian vaccines might gain U.S. approval and be used to help offset the national shortage of flu shots. A Winter Park pharmacy received some of the doses.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Canada hangs on to its flu shots
With busloads of seniors routinely heading north to buy prescription drugs in Canada, it's hardly a surprise that Americans now are looking across the border for flu vaccine, too.

But with the exception of a few welcoming clinics, including one in remote Estevan, Saskatchewan, that advertised its willingness to provide U.S. citizens in neighboring North Dakota with flu shots, the Canadian option appears dicey.

For starters, what's available in Canada would cover only a small fraction of the shortage in the United States, where supplies were reduced by half because of contamination, health officials say. And there is some reluctance among Canadians to send anything but verbal shots south.

From Health Canada:
Association of EPREX (epoetin alfa) with thrombotic vascular events -Janssen-Ortho Inc.
Results of recent investigational studies using EPREX and other erythropoietin products have indicated an increased risk of blood clot formation in patients with cancer who were treated to raise their red blood cells to a level higher than the typical target in this population. In some cases, these blood clots were fatal.

From the Globe and Mail:
Flu vaccine Q&A
Why does the U.S. have a shortage of influenza vaccine?On Oct. 5, British regulators suspended the licence of vaccine maker Chiron, which operates a plant in Liverpool, after it was discovered that some of the flu vaccine it produced was contaminated with bacteria.

The United States was depending on Chiron for 48 million doses of flu vaccine -- half the country's supply -- but production was scrapped.

From the Toronto Star:
Drug-export ban urged
Canadians will find prescription drugs more expensive — if they can find them at all — unless the federal government stops Internet pharmacies from catering to Americans, a health coalition warns.

Several groups representing pharmacists, patients and seniors called on the federal government yesterday to ban fast-growing exports of Canadian prescription drugs before it's too late.

From the (Augusta, Maine) Morning Sentinel:
Mainers seeking flu vaccine in Canada
Mainers unable to find flu shots at home because of a massive shortage this year are looking to Canada for the vaccine, but it's unclear how many will be successful in their quest.

The United States is short nearly half its anticipated supply this year because the license of Chiron Corp., one of two manufacturers for the country's vaccine, was pulled this month. As residents face restrictions on who can get the shot, resulting in long lines at some clinics and the cancellation of others, some are hoping they can obtain the shot by crossing the border.

From CNEWS:
Special flu-shot clinic set up in Vancouver Oct. 30 for Americans
So many Americans are cross-border shopping for flu shots that the Vancouver health authority has set up a one-day clinic for Americans only.

Americans are flooding into clinics along the U.S.-B.C. border - including one at the Vancouver International Airport - looking for the shots that have become increasingly scarce in the U.S.

From the Seattle Times:
Canada's reaction mixed to sharing its flu vaccine
"There is massive hypocrisy on the part of the Bush administration," said Jillian Claire Cohen, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Toronto. "They are very hesitant to allow cheaper, safe drugs from Canada, but when it serves their purposes, all of a sudden they turn to Canada."

From the Grand Forks (ND) Herald:
Canada a possible flu shot option for some Americans
Margaret Holmen's only opportunity for a flu shot this year might be 75 miles across the Canadian border. Dozens of others already have made the trek north.

With a shortage of vaccine shutting down flu shot clinics around North Dakota, Holmen and others who visit the Powers Lake Senior Citizens Center have been talking about traveling to Estevan, Saskatchewan. A pharmacy there is inviting U.S. residents to come and get poked, and it gave shots to about 80 Americans in 1 1/2 hours Tuesday.

"Everybody here is thinking about it," said Holmen, the senior center's manager. "We hear on the news that we should be patient, but we don't know what to do."

From the Washington Times:
Drug dearth a fear in Canada
Canadians are increasingly worried they will run out of medicines as more American consumers and local governments look across the northern border for cheaper prescription drugs.

One Canadian pharmacy group has said it will stop bulk prescription drug sales to U.S. states and municipalities, and a coalition of patients and pharmacy groups this week asked their government to ban prescription drug exports.

From the Tuscon (AZ) Citizen:
FDA looks to Canadian drug-maker for flu vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration is in "active negotiations" with a Canadian manu